Sir, I am a parent of a student who joined B.Tech offered by . Sir, has been offering various technical/ engineering programmes like B.Tech, M.Tech since 2009 onwards. It claims in its prospectus that its courses are approved by Distance Education Council.

But I was shocked to see the show-cause notice and memorandum issued by DEC to stating that the technical programmes are not approved by DEC. How could a government university have conducted the courses which are not recognised by the statutory bodies for so many years? Why have the authorities not taken action for these many years?

- Careers360 reader Murthy, Bangalore

Core players and where they stand

MINISTRY OF HRD: Very clearly came up with a notification advising DEC not to permit Engineering degrees through correspondencee

AICTE:Has a clear-cut policy of not permitting B.Tech by correspondence (view their notification below).

DEC: Does not permit such programmes.Status quo

It’s a saga of remissness displayed by both the regulating bodies - UGC and AICTE.

The first wave of distance learning (DL) degrees in engineering came when some Deemed Universities like JRN Vidyapeeth started B.Tech by correspondence and began setting up study centres across the country.

On August 9, 2005, the UGC came up with a circular that explicitly forbade distance learning B.Tech programmes.

When the decision was challenged by JRN Vidyapeeth and others, the UGC allowed, quite inexplicably, a one-time exemption to these institutions and permitted B.Tech degrees by correspondence between 2001 and 2005.

The institutes continued to admit students until both UGC and DEC woke up in 2009 and began notifying the correspondence degrees as invalid. JRN Vidyapeeth again went to the court which stayed DEC’s actions in this matter.

Click the image (on the right) to enlarge list of Deemed Universities.

Four questions arise:

l If technical degrees cannot be offered in distance learning mode, how is the government justified in permitting engineering degrees like AMIE and AMIETE?

l How can the AICTE come up with notifications regulating universities which are supposed to be outside its purview?

l If DEC is against distance learning programmes in engineering, how is IGNOU justified in offering B.Tech?l As a result of the actions and inaction of the regulators, the situation remains muddled and open to litigation. The students have therefore been left out in the cold.

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